C'est La Vie
by droidgirl
Summary: How Rose and alt!10 continued their lives after the TARDIS stranded them on that beach in Norway. Spoilers for Journey's End, and sort of part of my "Hands" series.


"Well then. He's a bit of a prat."

"He's you,' she says dully. Not that dully. He can hear the famous Tyler temper about to surface.

"No, no...that way lies...slaps from Jackie. And I'm him enough to remember I don't like that, and not him enough that I think I should remind you now, that he's pretty much abandoned me as much as he has abandoned you." he replied nervously, tempted to back away. But the feel of her hand in his was addictive.

He thought he'd risk getting hit, if he could hold her hand for another second.

All of this was either a very good nightmare, or a very nightmarish good dream. He wasn't sure if this wasn't a hallucination caused by something the TARDIS put in the water; she's got a funny sense of humour, the ship has. Speaking of...he felt the lump in his pocket. Good, the coral flusher was still there. Enough to grow his own ship here...already, on that beach, he had such plans. New universe, new territory to explore. And he'll be damned if he let Rose anywhere near that moron again. She was his, or at least she will be. All...fifty years of whatever life they each had left. If he was lucky.

"What are you groping around down there in your pants?" Rose asked, looking at him suspiciously.

He flushed red.

"Er...it's not what it looks like. " he said, pausing. She didn't let up on the suspicious look, so he drew out the precious object.

"Pretty." she said absently, looking at it.

"It's a pretty seed, yes."

"That's a piece of coral."

"Yes, but also a seed."

Instead of suspicion, now she just looked worried, as if maybe this body only had half a brain. Not even a human one at that.

"He gave it to me to grow my own ship." he lied. He wasn't sure what her response would be yet, if she found out that he had more or less sabotaged her ex-lover's septic system before leaving, because he was just that sort of vengeful man.

Only against gits, prats, morons and Daleks though.

"That bastard." she said, face turning red. No sign of more tears, he observed. Probably wasn't ever going to be at this point, if he knew Rose, which if he did say so himself, he did.

"That fucking bastard." she screamed into the wind. Jackie, he observed. who was standing behind them, was looking rather appalled at her offspring's foul mouth. "I worked so hard to find him again and what does he do? He leaves me here to babysit his bloody genocidal human clone!"

"I resent that!" he said, slightly offended. "I may have ruthlessly obliterated an entire race of beings, but I still have feelings you know!"

"Sorry." she said, catching her breath and looking at him properly.

"That's alright. You're under a lot of stress."

"Tell me though, since you're basically him." her eyes narrowed. He gulped apprehensively.

"How does a nine hundred year old Time Lord behave like a commitment phobic twenty something MAN?" she demanded, poking him in the chest with her free hand not still tightly clasped in his.

"That's an over-generalization that is. I'm here aren't I? Time Lord and Man combined. Offered the rest of my life to you two seconds ago, didn't I?" he squawked.

"Oei you two. Break it up." Jackie finally cut in. "In case you haven't noticed, we're stuck on a beach in Norway. My mobile is dead, and I didn't exactly pack a spare set of wheels in my coat."

The squabbling pair looked at Jackie.

It wasn't the best way to start a life in a parallel universe.

* * *

The bus smelt. Bad, to be precise.

Humans and their reek, he thought, trying to find a seat for the three of them that wasn't next to a drug mule, crazy derelict or well, German. Nothing against Germans. But they sounded rather angry, and he wasn't really in the mood for more angry sounds. Rose had not stopped muttering since the beach, six miles back, about fuckwit Time Lords and their fucking inconsiderate habits of abandoning companions.

The bus pulled out of the station, when the Doctor settled into a seat with a sigh. Human legs weren't built for that much walking, he decided. Jackie sat in front of them, similarly trying to ignore Rose's furious whispers.

He felt quite disgusting at that moment. The suit was stifling at the best of times, and walking for so long had done nothing to make it more comfortable. He was sticky, his pants were chafing his knees and he really, really missed his shower in the TARDIS. _Fucking bastard_, he couldn't help but agree with Rose. What gave him the right to decide his fate for him? He had as much right to the ship as _he_ did, seeing as he's sort of, not quite him. Hopefully, that damn toilet will give him trouble for a good long time to come.

He begin to doze, lulled by the sweet sound of her voice (grumbling though it was) and the purr of the bus's engine. After a while however, he felt the first signs of queasiness. Perhaps as a human, he was susceptible to motion sickness.

The feeling was merely uncomfortable at first. Then it really began to irritate him.

"Woman, shut it. At least you're sort of home. I've just been divested of everything I know, even though it was all sort of rightfully mine!" he said, finally snapping at Rose.

Jackie sank further down in her seat in front. She really didn't want to be there right then; give her a Cyberman anyday.

"Oh please. You must have been in on it too." Rose retorted. "You knew and you just let him."

"I just LET him did I? Well for your information, I knew he was going to abandon you, and I thought, "weell...I'm not going to let the bastard do that to Rose Tyler. Not MY Rose. Not after everything I...He...sod it, **I** went through since **I** lost you.". Now of course, I'm beginning to think maybe I should have just chucked him out of the airlock and then..."

He stopped, his eyes growing wide.

"So this was all for me was it?" Rose huffed, not noticing the expression on his face.

There was a feeling in his chest. Achingly familiar, but painfully new. Painfully. He clutched at the T-Shirt under his jacket.

"Well I'll have you know..." she trailed off, finally realizing something was wrong when he eyes begin to bug out, and his breath came in short spurts.

"What's wrong?"

"My heart..." he gasped.

Jackie peeked over, wondering if it was safe to be in the same vehicle yet.

"What's wrong with your heart?" Rose panicked. "Oh God, the...regeneration...thing. It's gone wrong hasn't it??"

"Do you think maybe he needs tea like the last time?" Jackie asked nervously.

"Oh. OH!" he looked shocked.

"Doctor! Tell me what's wrong!" Rose screamed. The rest of the bus ignored them, although the driver did peer back, looking worried at the idea of having to deal with a corpse for the rest of the trip. Not that he never had to deal with that problem before; it just made everyone uncomfortable when there was a corpse propped up in a seat.

"Its my heart..." he said, looking at her in wide eyed wonder. "My second heart."

"Oh..." Rose said, mirroring his expression.

"Oh."

"So he's not dying?" Jackie asked.

He could have sworn she sounded slightly disappointed.

* * *

"I could be a physics teacher." he said brightly, stepping out of the shower.

"Towel. Towel. Towels are important at a time like this." Rose said, not knowing where to look. "I've told you this a hundred times and I'm telling you now. Towels. Especially when you're around Mom and Pete."

Jackie looked appreciative. Pete whistled a jaunty tune as he imagined himself getting executed by green scaly aliens at that moment.

"Humans and your silly notions of modesty." he observed good naturedly, grabbing the proffered white towel from Rose's outstretched hand, wrapping it around his waist. The four of them stood in his guest bedroom, having been discussing, well, him, while he showered.

"Right then, so you're going to need papers as long as you're still grounded. I can help with that, and Torchwood will of course, loan you all the necessary material to help you regrow a new ship in the meantime of...how long do you think you're going to be here?" Pete asked curiously.

The Doctor looked at Rose fondly.

"However long she wants me to."

She blushed prettily and looked away. He could still see the hurt in her eyes from the pain the other him had inflicted; it was going to take some time to work through that, he thought.

_Although somehow, she's dealing with this really well_ he thought, _I suppose travelling with me for so long, and having seen the things she has seen in her line of work, it must come easier to her, than it would have someone else, the idea that I'm still the Doctor she knows and dareisay , loves, even if I'm not him all at the same time. _

He also had to work on that sentence, he reflected. It got away from him a little there.

Right at that moment though...

"What's for dinner? I could eat a horse. Not a real horse of course; horse always tastes kind of strong. I'm in the mood for something meaty though, let me tell ya."

His towel chose that moment to slip off.

"I can see what you mean." Jackie giggled.

He grinned at her, while the other two rushed out of the room.

* * *

He didn't kiss her again for some time. A whole long year, to be precise. She kept a respectful distance from him, as though unsure of where things stood. It wasn't as if they had been overtly together before their first separation, so he could understand what part of the problem was. Oh, they laughed, talked, even adventured together dispelling alien threats at Torchwood, where he predictably pitched in at - freelance of course, when he wasn't teaching physics at the local school.

Sometimes, she still looked at him suspiciously, which only served to let him know that maybe, maybe part of her did not truly believe that he was who he said he was. Then again, as time went by, he found out things about himself that...well, the other _him_ did not share. Like strawberries. The original Doctor never liked the things. He was crazy for them though; tart, rich and perfect with a bowl of cream. Gorgeous to look at against all that white stuff too.

The Stupid Git hadn't lied. He **needed** her. It was enough to be in her world again, to simply be in her sphere again. At first. But after three hundred and sixty-six days - because it just so happened to be a leap year that time - he had quite enough. He might be a Time Lord after all, but as always, _her_ time was limited, and he wanted her. Every last minute of her.

He had shown up at her door on a Thursday night, with wine, roses and chocolates. Human mating habits, he had observed. If that didn't work, he had the number of the best pizza restaurant in town. Pizza and sex, he was told, was another human tradition.

"Rose Tyler." he beamed. "Will you go steady with me?"

Her response was,

"What took you so long?"

"I thought you needed time." he said, baffled.

"You're not too bright are you?" she said, looking at him like one looked at a slow _beloved_ child.

Women. He still didn't get them, even as she grabbed his lapels and planted the best kiss of his long life on his lips, and then proceeded to shag his very intellligent brains out on the foyer once the front door was closed.

* * *

"Rose Tyler." he said, five years to the date when they had been tossed onto that beach.

"You can start sentences with just 'Rose' you know." she informed him at the door of their apartment.

"Today, I finished paying your father for everything I owe him from the time I got here." he said proudly, stepping in with, a bottle shaped paper bag in his hands. "My script is wildly popular at the BBC, and the TARDIS is about 46.7 grown. Life is good Rose Tyler."

"Well open the wine then you stupid git," Rose said, kissing him on the lips. "I'm not getting any younger here Time Lord."

"It's not just wine sweetheart. It's...champagne!" he declared as he begin to loosen the wires holding the cork down. Evidently, he had bounced too much on his way home, in his jubilation, because the cork flew right out through no effort of his own...

And smacked Rose right in the middle of the forehead with an audible crack. Her eyes glazed over, and before the Doctor's horrified stare, she crumpled to the ground.

"Rose!" he squeaked, dropping the champagne bottle, which shattered. The contents started to soak into the carpet. He scrambled to her side and propped her up. There was no comforting rise and fall of her chest.

His eyes began to burn as he felt the tears rush to the fore. He couldn't believe it. On the best day of his life since he got here, he went and killed her with a bloody cork. The universe really must have hated him, he thought. His chest wrenched, both his hearts breaking.

"Oh Rose...my Rose..." he said, hugging her prone body to his, tears falling freely.

Then she drew a great shuddering breath and he dropped her. She thumped on the floor, still wheezing as she tried to catch her breath. He had seen this happen before; he had seen it happen to Jack.

"But...But I kissed it out of you..." he murmured, looking momentarily troubled.

"What?" she asked, face red from the exertion of her body starting up again.

"Ah well." he shrugged and grinned. "Just means I'll have you around for much, much longer."

She stared at him, unsure of what had just transpired. Then she looked around and saw the destruction.

"Did you get champagne into the carpet?" she screeched.

His grin faded.

* * *

"Shagging a human. That's frowned upon you know." his Ninth face told him in all seriousness, before breaking out into a wide smile. "Also a human as wrong as this one."

"I'm not wrong!" Rose said, annoyed. "Just improved. I missed you."

"I'm right here!" her Doctor said, annoyed. "You keep missing the point. Same person seperate body, you can deal with; same person, _same body_...ish, you know the whole jig, you can't wrap your head around. Woman. You need help."

"You can take the couch." she sniffed and turned her attention back to the other Doctor.

"We don't have a couch."

"Well guess you're out of luck then aren't you?" she said, smiling sweetly.

"Domestic are we?" the other Doctor said, observing the interplay.

"Quite right too." he replied. Proudly.

"They know about you. They don't much like you, but they're willing to overlook your existence on this plane." this universe's version of him said. "I'm from this dimension and they don't like me."

"Yep, yep, I remember. Bunch of...old...fogeys..." he said, an expression of distaste contorting his features. His eyes however, shone; it was good to know he wasn't completely alone after all.

"Some days, I think about ways I can lose the lot. Blow up Gallifrey and every last geezer on it." his Ninth counterpart said with a dry laugh.

The Doctor said nothing. Rose took his hand gently.

They still have tea sometimes.

* * *

About fifty years later, give or take here and there, mostly because they had lost count, Rose and the Doctor looked bemusedly at the TARDIS that was materializing in their very own Console Room. It certainly wasn't the other Doctor from this universe. He usually knocked first, or called ahead. Nice fella, that one, under his grouchiness.

"Do you think you can do me a favour and hit him?" she yelled over the blare of the other ship's engines.

The Doctor gave her a withering look. Did he _think_ he could do it? Was he her man, or wasn't he?

He strutted up to the door of the other space ship and gave her what he imagined was a mean look as he pulled his fist back, one foot behind the other. He also imagined he looked really tough.

"You look really stupid like that." she called to him. "I love you anyway."

"I love you too" he said, face breaking into his trademarked grin.

Then he re-adjusted his features.

Time to give the Git on the other side a proper welcome.


End file.
